SANDS OF SEDUCTION inaugurates the author's Literate Beach Reading Series, sexy-yet-classy ensemble novels for travel lovers set in the world's great resorts. This fast-paced, witty ode to South America initiates on Napa's hills, traverses Caribbean isles and Brazilian coasts, and culminates along sixty kilometers of magnificent dunes at Punta del Este, Uruguay's Med-style summer hideaway for the jet-set and the not-yet. On a pristine canvas of sunny sensuality and moonlit frenzy, diverse bands of provocative characters grasp hard at life, finding new loves, adventures, and challenges as they cross, and divert, each others' paths. In these scenic, alluring places, a wide range of funny, warm, likable, and sly characters confront passion, intrigue, and beauty, at last enountering the possibility to live at peace with the world, and themselves. SANDS OF SEDUCTION is accompanied by a custom-designed map of the Punta del Este area plus eighteen black-and-white photos shot by the author of the story's prime South American settings, its famous beaches, stylish hotels, fashion shows, yachts, and unique scenery. CONTENTS: Ocean Waves & the Cool Mood The Big Chill-Out Birds of Paradise South American Sandbox High Season Maiden Voyage Make No Little Plans Monokini at Bikini Beach Blowing Fire Blame It on Rio Sun Gods & Goddesses Metaphysical Wind Fireside Chat with the Blondes Footprints of the Infamous Blowin' in the Gale The Saga of the Sea Stealth Attacks Breathing in Life as One LEAD CHARACTERS: Parker - novice vintner fermenting in his newly opened Napa Valley winery Sol - beautifully designed Argentine arquitecta at her summer office in Uruguay Val and Vince - retired tech twins being wooed by a buyout Wally - deca-billionaire on the maiden voyage of his record-setting clipper ship Byrd - self-made-famous celebrity Florida developer looking for new sand to exploit Ipanema - the builder's exquisite, model flame, named for the most famous beach in the world Pinto - the model's mentor and former manager Volkanov - bad guys don't cry
About the Author: Zane Segal has been obsessed with traveling since his youth, in the process gaining inspiration for writing and profound appreciation for the myriad wonders of distant lands. Whether motorcycling through Eastern Europe, roving the deserts of Morocco, climbing Mount Sinai, skiing the Andes, or probing the high-country grandeur of North America, staying in five-stars or camping out under them, he has counted the days and nights spent on the road among his finest. He has celebrated the past nine New Years' Eves in Punta del Este, Uruguay, hard at work patrolling its sensuous playas, exotic hostelries, and gourmet eateries in order to research this novel's prime locations. These annual pilgrimages are part of thirteen trips within the last decade to Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, each lasting about a month. The author has lived in and explored Europe for over a year at various eras of his life, spent five months in North Africa and the Middle East, visited every American state and most Canadian provinces, toured many islands in the Bahamas and the Caribbean, resorted often along the coasts of Panama and Mexico, and enjoyed numerous sea voyages and trans-Atlantic crossings aboard liners as diverse as the four-masted Wind Star, the regal QE II, the elite Seabourn Pride, and the Communist-era Stefan Batory, flagship of the Polish passenger fleet. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Humanities and Visual Design, he received a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema from the University of Southern California. He has authored numerous printed articles, shot hundreds of published photographs, and written and produced a range of film and video projects. His hobbies include singing, playing guitar and piano, reading a variety of fiction, and running in excess of 600 miles per year. Utilizing his business background of real estate development and marketing, architecture and planning, music, photography, and media production in his writing, Zane splits time between his home port of Houston, Texas, his second home in Cordoba, Argentina, and the rest of the world, all with his enamorada Gracy.